Total Lunar Eclipse April 4th 2015

The moon passed into the Earth's shadow before early yesterday (April 4), turning most of the lunar surface a deep, blood-red color in a total lunar eclipse that lasted less than 10 minutes at its peak, making it the shortest of its kind this century.

Photos of the total lunar eclipse show a highly variable and unique color pattern on the lunar surface, which included shades of deep blood red, rusty orange, pale yellow, grayish blue and white. Collectively, the different colors created a stunning "rainbow" on the moon's surface, according to some observers.

This was the first total lunar eclipse of 2015 and the third in a series of four closely spaced total lunar eclipses — also known as a lunar tetrad. The fourth eclipse of the tetrad will occur on Sept. 28, 2015.


This spectacular view of the red moon during the April 4, 2015 total lunar eclipse by photographer Dean Hooper in Melbourne, Australia. This image was shared by the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy.

By Jason Hanna and Amanda Barnett, CNN
Updated 5:56 PM ET, Sat April 4, 2015 (Photo's from Space.com)

The third blood moon in a four-part series was the shortest eclipse of the bunch, but still a sweet treat for early risers in North America.

The moon slipped fully into Earth's shadow at 4:58 a.m. Pacific Time (7:58 a.m. ET) Saturday, starting a total lunar eclipse for nearly five minutes -- what NASA says will be the shortest such eclipse of the century.

The celestial body took on a burnt-orange tint in the minutes before, during and after the total eclipse, giving the moon the appearance that earns total eclipses the "blood moon" nickname.

Watchers in the eastern half of North America caught only a partial eclipse -- and in some places, an orange one -- before the moon set below the horizon.


Veteran skywatcher Maxim Senin of Redondo Beach, California combined multiple exposures to create this time-lapse view of the total lunar eclipse of April 4, 2015.

The event started at 3:16 a.m. PT (6:16 a.m. ET), when the moon began moving into Earth's shadow.

"The lunar eclipse is looking good!" tweeted Ryan Hoke, a meteorologist for CNN affiliate WAVE in Louisville, Kentucky, showing a picture of a reddish partial moon in a blue dawn sky.


(Photo courtesy of CNN)

People from the U.S. West Coast to Australia were able to catch the total eclipse.

Parts of South America, India, China and Russia were able to see at least parts of the event, but it wasn't visible in Greenland, Iceland, Europe, Africa or the Middle East.

A lunar eclipse happens when the sun, Earth and moon form a straight line in space, with the Earth smack in the middle.

The sun shines on the Earth and creates a shadow. As the moon moves deeper into that shadow, it appears to turn dark and may even appear to be a reddish color. Why red? Because Earth's atmosphere is filtering out most of the blue light.


The total lunar eclipse of April 4, 2015 dominates this stunning photo by veteran astrophotographer Tyler Leavitt in Las Vegas, Nevada. Leavitt captured the eclipse with the Stratosphere hotel and casino.

NASA says lunar eclipses typically happen at least twice a year, but this eclipse is the third in a series of four in a row, known as a "tetrad." The first was April 15, 2014, and the second was October 23, 2014. The space agency predicts the next one will come September 28.

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The next total lunar eclipse takes place on Sept. 28, 2015. That comes shortly after a partial solar eclipse on Sept. 13, which will only be visible in Antarctica, but there are many other awesome skywatching events in 2015 to look out for.

For more eclipse action, the next total solar eclipse — when the moon appears to block out the sun — takes place in March 2016 and will be visible from Borneo, Sumatra, Sulawesi and parts of the Pacific Ocean. In August 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible in the United States.